In January we launched our new magazine subscription service which offers the lowest price for the delivery of your publications  and 12 months’ notice of price changes. Demand for the new service is strong and we want to be sure you are not missing out.

With the magazine subscription service Mailmark barcoding comes as standard giving you access to our keenest prices and visibility of your items in the Royal Mail network. We understand that the switch to Mailmark often requires a change of production and this can cause uncertainty, which is why Royal Mail has entered a partnership with mail producers and customers to test Mailmark items. The Mailmark testing programme runs until June 2019 providing a safe test environment without you incurring additional charges if your barcode is not read. 

Testing has delivered fantastic results over the last 18 months. By sharing some of the success stories we hope to help you decide whether the magazine subscription service is right for you and also invite you to participate in the tests.

• Printing Mailmarks directly onto polywrap can be difficult but using laser print or a cover sheet delivers excellent results. Numerous customers have worked successfully with Royal Mail through the testing programme to understand the best way to apply a Mailmark and we are happy to share the learnings from those tests with everyone.  
• Paper Wrap is an excellent example of how mail producers have responded to increasing public concern over single use plastic. Paper wrapping is ideally suited to Mailmark meaning it not only fits the sustainability agenda but is also the best substrate for great Mailmark reads.
• Sustainable wrapping such as starched based materials are increasingly becoming more popular with publishers. Starch based alternatives can be difficult to Mailmark because of the opaque quality of the finished product and their robustness. Yet following extensive testing customers have successfully switched their starch based wrapping to Mailmark.

Think Publishing pride themselves on their green credentials and have been among the first adopters of starch. Justin Masters at Think Publishing says:

“We have moved many of our publications to starch wrap over the last year, which is proving a fantastic environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. We worked closely with Royal Mail, testing and trialing the items to validate them for Mailmark. This has been hugely successful, and we were able to post our first 100,000 copy issue out in the first week of January, in starch wrap, using the new subscription mail service. The help we received from Royal Mail was invaluable, and they were on hand to guide us to success. We can now confidently mail using the most cost-effective services, whilst using what we feel is a brilliant eco-friendly solution to the single use plastics issues this country faces.”

With the publishing industry facing increasing cost and environmental challenges there is a compelling case to think differently about how to send your magazines. We are committed to working with you to achieve the best price for your publications with our magazine subscription service.

To find out more about the new magazine subscription service, about how to successfully switch your items to Mailmark or our suite of incentives aimed at publishers please speak to your mail producer, Royal Mail Account Direct or mail provider.